Proper wound dressings are an essential medical supply for treating injuries. Without dressings, the wound exudate accumulates and creates breeding grounds for harmful microorganisms. Each year, sterile wound dressings are applied to millions of wounds in order to absorb wound exudate while promoting sterility.
Traditional wound dressings have included various cloth and fiber materials as exudates absorbents, such as cotton pads. Unfortunately, these traditional dressings provide relatively limited absorbency and must be changed frequently. Their ability to preserve sterility is also limited, and scabs that form as the wounds heal tend to stick to the dressings. After the dressings are removed, these scabs are also removed, which can be painful and interfere with healing.
Efforts have been made to improve upon these traditional wound dressings by applying a non-stick perforated film to the wound-facing side of the dressing. These non-stick films are designed to allow wound exudate to penetrate to the absorbent, while restricting the physical contact between the absorbent and wound in an effort to reduce undesirable adherence between the two. However, these perforated films do nothing to improve on the absorbency of traditional absorbent materials used in dressings.
In order to improve upon absorbency, various alternative absorbent materials have been developed. For example, hydrophilic hydrocolloids and hydrogels have been created that provide a translucent or transparent absorbent layer. Such dressings can allow for general inspection of the healing wound. Unfortunately, some such dressings have the problem that the absorbent deforms and partially disintegrates upon swelling. Specifically, as the absorbent takes in fluid, it often bends and buckles such that some of the absorbent material breaks away from the dressing and enters the wound. This absorbent material can be left in the wound upon removal of the dressing, which is undesirable for cosmetic and therapeutic reasons. In addition, such materials often have relatively high moisture content prior to application, which can limit their ability to absorb additional water after they are applied.
Therefore, a need exists for a wound dressing that improves on existing dressing materials and technology.